Vepar
'''Vepar' was the Grandmaster of the Magestar before the Yamatian Invasion. He was the mastermind behind the fire elemental's attack on Graves Hall. It was later revealed that he had in fact been conspiring with the Clergy of Nergal and had meant to destroy Graves Hall in its entirety instead of just the mage school within it. Vepar managed to sway several masters behind him through persuasion and intimidation, most notably Raum who became his second-in-command. Ultimately his madness got hold of him, and he and his supporter Raum were driven out of the Magestar. After their escape, Raum and Vepar joined the Clergy of Nergal, turned ten paladins of Graves Hall to their side and bided their time in the shadows as they began studying the Temple of Hephaestus and planning how to unleash the dormant power within it for their own use. They briefly allied with the Totenkopfs' Yamatian branch after the Cataclysm, kidnapped Shogun Hiroshi Takamoto of the Akai Tora, used the Black Hunters as pawns and lured the Fellowship of Shipwreck Cove to the temple during the Battle of Hephaisteion so they could backstab the Totenkopfs and destroy the demons and Yamatians alike. Vepar's scheme was ultimately foiled due to interference from the fellowship, and he was frozen and burned alive by the two elementals he had tried to submit under his will. Biography Early Years Vepar, like his colleagues, was brought to the Magestar in Aison at an early age after his skills as a budding mage were recognized. He trained diligently in the school and after decades had passed, he finally got promoted into a grandmaster, a respected academic title. Although he initially had good intentions to protect Aison from outside threats, his ideas changed when he realized that the other masters would need someone to guide them to make the right decisions. He eventually met with Martel from the Clergy of Nergal whose agents had observed him and the other masters for a while. They had conversations in the shadows and struck a deal: in exchange for his services to the clergy, Vepar would receive ultimate power and become Magestar's undisputed ruler, surpassing everyone else in both raw magic power and knowledge. During this time Vepar saw potential in a fellow master, Amon, and managed to sway him to his side, turning Amon into his right-hand man in his little scheme. Distreyd Era Devious Schemes In 1000 AE, Vepar was approached by Martel who told him the time to act had finally come. Vepar called all the present masters to a meeting despite Josiah Amdusias being away, but this was Vepar's way of ensuring that the honorable master would not try to sway voting to someone else than Vepar's favour. After a tense discussion, Vepar and his allies managed to sway the rest of the worried masters to their side, and they all unanimously decided to send a fire elemental to raze the mage school in the rival Graves Hall which many mages saw as a threat to the Magestar's academic superiority in Aison. After the meeting was over, Vepar returned to his quarters where he met with Martel who told him that an artifact that would boost Vepar's magic had been installed in the school, which pleased Vepar greatly. However, Martel also ordered Vepar to finish the task he had been given, and Vepar set out to do exactly that, conversing with the fire elemental in the orb it had been trapped in and telling it that it had new objectives: to not only damage the mage school at Graves Hall but to raze the entire school, mages and paladins included, and leave none alive in exchange for Vepar freeing the elemental's brother later. Vepar gave the red orb to an assassin named Golohab and ordered him to deliver it to the main hall of Graves Hall but without revealing to him the true contents of the orb. He eventually learned that the razing of Graves Hall had been successful, and he was pleased that several masters and students of the rival school had lost their lives. Treachery Uncovered Vepar continued leeching power from the artifact given to him by the Clergy of Nergal, but it--as well as his already questionable sanity--were slowly corrupting his mind and driving him insane. He still followed Martel's orders but remained unaware that Martel was now seeing him as a liability to the clergy's plans and as someone who would eventually be replaced. However, the status quo in the Magestar changed when several people entered the school rather abruptly. Among them were the paladin Marcus Sarillius of Graves Hall and his squire Rhett Lassiter who had barged their way into the school and gravely injured bridgeman Kauss. Before the interlopers could be executed, Josiah Amdusias, who had returned around the same time, intervened and suggested a trial instead to see whether the assailants would be found guilty of manslaughter or not. In the following trial the defendants were allowed to present their case to them, and Marcus told everyone present that he had been approached by a mortal possessed by a God who had accurately told him of future events such as the fire elemental's razing of Graves Hall and--more alarmingly--that Master Vepar of Magestar had been responsible for the razing. Vepar argued that Marcus was a crazy fool whose accusations shouldn't be taken seriously, but he saw some of the masters waver, especially after the masters learned how much death and destruction Graves Hall had actually ended up facing instead of the original plan in which the elemental was supposed to only destroy the mage school in Graves Hall. Many didn't believe Vepar would've been responsible for the elemental's larger than planned rampage or that a god would actually talk to a mortal, but Marcus's words still left doubt in their hearts. When it turned out that Kauss had miraculously survived from the wounds inflicted on him by the adventurers, the masters decided to change the adventurers' sentence from death penalty to temporary servitude within the confines of the Magestar for the trouble they had caused. Vepar had to grudgingly agree to the masters' decision: although he was the Grandmaster, his voice was still one out of many. What troubled him more was that the masters still acted too independently to his liking, something he planned to change in the future. He also paid attention to Marcus's strange sword Dusk, wondering why he sensed odd power in it...power which the other masters must've sensed too. Intimidation and Downfall Vepar eventually came to learn that some of the masters had been working behind his back, among them Amon, his seemingly trustworthy lieutenant. When Marcus and his companions had successfully defeated Amon while escaping from the Magestar, Vepar saw Amon's temporarily weakened state as the perfect opportunity to demonstrate his might to him and the rest of the masters. He called in a meeting with the masters with Master Raum replacing Amon as his right-hand man much to Amon's shock. Vepar and Raum then revealed the drawn and quartered corpse of Master Zagan who had partly been responsible for helping Marcus's group flee from the Magestar. Vepar's message was clear: if anyone disoebeyed his orders again or attempted to betray him, their fate would be same as Zagan's. What little was left of Vepar's sanity was finally slipping, and he became a raving lunatic whose word was law. Although he successfully intimidated the other masters into following his every whim, dissension grew among both his allies and opponents in the council. Even Raum was only working for his own ends, having been promised Vepar's position as the new Grandmaster when the Clergy of Nergal deemed it fit to get rid of Vepar permanently. When Distreyd Thanadar XII cast the Plague of Nightmares over the world on the eve of the Yamatian Invasion, the powerful spell even weakened Vepar. The masters who had grown disillusioned with the madness and intimidation of their Grandmaster used this opportunity to stage a coup, forcing the weakened Vepar into exile. Amon, Raum and other treacherous masters had to flee as well when students joined forces with the loyal masters against them. Josiah was elected as the new Grandmaster of the Magestar after the skirmish. Vepar swore revenge, promising to return to destroy the masters who had disobeyed him and reclaim the Magestar for himself. Godslayer Era Vepar was thought to have perished in the years following the Yamatian Invasion although reports of his death had never been confirmed. Death Legacy Aliases and Nicknames ; Grandmaster of the Magestar : What he began styling himself as. ; Master Vepar : His title. Appearance A dark-robed man with a dark, greying beard. His hair and beard had notable white streaks on them. Personality and Traits He was well-mannered most of the time but was actually a power-hungry, amoral man who devised clever and sinister schemes at his leisure. He began losing his sanity when he leeched too much mana from a magic artifact given to him by the Clergy of Nergal, and he became rather ruthless and paranoid as a result, intimidating other masters to work for him. Powers and Abilities He was a powerful mage, capable of casting devastating spells in his wake. His powers were amplified even more by the device of the Clergy of Nergal albeit with the cost of his sanity. Relationships Amon Amon served as Vepar's right-hand man for a time but eventually fell from his favour when the Clergy of Nergal urged Vepar to replace Amon with Raum who they claimed would be more obedient than the more independently acting Amon. As a direct result the relationship between Amon and Vepar grew more and more tense, and Vepar never quite realized that Amon's true allegiance lay with Maar Sul's Order of the Golden Lake. Marcus Sarillius Vepar and Marcus started off on bad terms and remained that way. Vepar had been responsible for sending a fire elemental to raze Marcus's school and home, and Marcus had learned from a god that Vepar had been responsible. Vepar did his best to claim that Marcus was a murderous lunatic who should be sentenced to death but didn't get his way due to other masters choosing to grow more lenient on the paladin. Vepar's seething hatred for Marcus, as well as his desire for the paladin's mysterious magic sword, grew over time, and Marcus was likewise displeased that he couldn't strike Vepar down when the other masters thought their Grandmaster was innocent. Martel At first it seemed that Vepar and Martel's alliance was mutually beneficial and that they were equals. However, as time passed, it became apparent that Martel was the one calling the shots and often intimidated Vepar whenever he felt the Grandmaster needed to be reminded of who was in charge. Martel grew more and more displeased when he saw Vepar's sanity begin slipping and made preparations to replace him. Raum Vepar replaced Amon with Raum who became his right-hand man. Unbeknownst to Vepar the Clergy of Nergal actually intended to replace ''him with Raum down the line, and Raum was in on the plan while playing a seemingly obedient lieutenant to the Grandmaster. See also *Clergy of Nergal *First Battle of Magestar *Ifrit *Magestar *Marcus Sarillius *Martel Category:Characters from Aison Category:Clergy of Nergal Category:Humans Category:Magestar Category:Third Age characters